Throwback: Avoiding Cannibalization: The Smart Way to Expand Your Amazon Product Line

In this episode, host Josh interviews Matt Altman, marketplace lead at Right Side Up, about advanced strategies for launching and scaling brands on Amazon. Matt shares actionable insights on budgeting for product launches, optimizing PPC campaigns by focusing on conversion rates, and leveraging Amazon’s internal data tools. He emphasizes the importance of consistently launching new, non-competing products to avoid cannibalization and drive growth. The discussion concludes with practical takeaways for sellers aiming to scale, plus an offer for a free brand audit from Matt’s agency, Right Side Up.

Chapters:

Introduction to Matt Altman and Right Side Up (00:00:00)
Josh introduces Matt Altman, his background, and the success of his agency, Right Side Up.

Current Product Launch Strategies on Amazon (00:00:31)
Matt discusses effective modern tactics for launching new products and the importance of a sufficient launch budget.

Budgeting for Product Launches (00:01:02)
Explanation of current budget requirements, category selection, and why launch budgets have increased.

Estimating Launch Budgets and Pre-Launch Data Collection (00:02:54)
How to estimate launch budgets, use Amazon Ads, and gather pre-launch data using search query reports.

Leveraging Search Query Performance Reports (00:04:14)
Matt explains the value of Amazon’s search query performance reports versus brand analytics.

Keyword Targeting and PPC Campaign Setup (00:05:19)
Details on targeting specific keywords, campaign types, and optimizing for conversion rates over ACOS/TACOS.

ASIN Targeting and Relevancy Building (00:07:44)
Using ASIN targeting campaigns to build relevancy for launch keywords and leveraging historical data.

Scaling to Eight Figures and Beyond (00:08:09)
Advice for established sellers on scaling, focusing on new product launches, and avoiding complacency.

Avoiding Product Cannibalization and Diversifying Product Lines (00:10:41)
Strategies to prevent keyword overlap, expand product lines, and increase brand reach without cannibalizing sales.

Actionable Takeaways for Sellers (00:12:54)
Josh summarizes three main takeaways: aggressive product launches, PPC optimization via conversion rates, and image optimization.

Strategic Delegation and Removing Bottlenecks (00:15:04)
Matt advises stepping back, identifying bottlenecks, and delegating to scale the business effectively.

Conclusion and Free Audit Offer (00:16:20)
Matt shares where listeners can learn more and offers a free audit for podcast listeners.

Links and Mentions:

Tools
Right Side Up
Amazon Search Query Reports
Brand Analytics
Pacvue
Ecom Analytics
Data Dive

Transcript:

Josh 00:00:00  Today, I'm super excited to introduce you to Matt Altman. Matt leads the marketplace at right side up. Matt has over 12 years of selling experience. He's launched and sold multiple personal brands, all starting from a retail arbitrage budget. Four years ago, he started an agency right Side up to help high growth CPG brands focus on dominating the marketplace. They've been able to scale many brands from 0 to 3 million in monthly sales. Welcome to the podcast, Matt.

Matt 00:00:29  Thanks for having me. Josh, how are you doing?

Josh 00:00:31  Doing great. What are some of the key things that you, you advise or recommend when launching a brand new product on Amazon that are working today? Because, as you know, a lot of those black hat tactics, you know, have come and gone. you also have the, you know, the rebates that everybody was doing, and now it's kind of leveled the playing field a little bit more. Tell me what you're doing that's been working for you guys.

Matt 00:00:55  Yeah. So first off, I think that the biggest thing is making sure you have a big enough budget to launch your products.

Matt 00:01:02  like the days of 5 to $10,000 budgets to launch products are just gone in my eyes, at least in the spaces that I work in. so we usually overestimate our budgets by like 20 to 30% of what we actually think it would be just to make sure that we're in a good place in case it doesn't go the way that we want it to. but outside of that, we're looking for a couple of major things. one is we want to see continued growth in the category. Amazon's making that way easier now with like the search query reports, the product Opportunity Explorer. There's so many internal tools that they're